The ruling likely will result in the estimated 400,000 tons of fire debris and ash staying much longer than expected in the temporary dump site at Olowalu. Maui County’s legal quest to quickly take a 20-acre parcel of privately owned land by eminent domain for the public use of building a permanent dump site for the Lahaina fire debris suffered a big setback in federal court this week. U.
S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield on Monday denied the county’s motion for an order of possession of the property next to the Central Maui Landfill that has been owned by Komar Maui Properties since 2015. Mansfield also directed the court clerk to return to Maui County the $830,000 it deposited as its good faith appraised value of the land.
The eminent domain case is set for a jury trial, but not until September 2025. The county can appeal the decision and request an expedited trial. Maui County wouldn’t make anyone available to answer questions about the ruling on Tuesday but did provide a one-paragraph written comment from its Corporation Counsel that included: “Under the rules of civil procedure for United States District Courts, the court will rule on all contested issues, including the validity of the county’s eminent domain action.
The date for hearing on this matter has not yet been set.” As a result of the ruling, the estimated 400,000 cubic tons of nonrecyclable debris and ash from the Aug. 8 fire will continue to be be stored at the temporary site in Olowalu — a lo.
